Officer Down
by badly-knitted
Summary: A routine search for witnesses to a shooting goes badly wrong. Written for the prompt 'Keeping their head,' at fic promptly. Set after the manga. Warning: There is blood and serious injury.


**Title:** Officer Down

 **Author:** badly-knitted

 **Characters:** Dee, Ryo, Bikky, Carol, Mother, Ted, Drake, JJ, Chief Smith, OCs

 **Rating:** PG

 **Setting:** After Vol. 7.

 **Summary:** A routine search for witnesses to a shooting goes badly wrong.

 **Word Count:** 753

 **Written For:** My own prompt 'Any, any, Keeping their head,' at fic_promptly.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

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Ryo's been hit and there's so much blood!

Everything had happened so fast; all they were doing was canvassing the area for witnesses to a shooting the previous night. They were on opposite sides of the street, going door to door, and then one door was thrown open and…

The gunfire had been deafening in the quiet street; Ryo hadn't had a chance to react before a bullet caught him, spinning him around, and he'd fallen without a sound. Even though the shooter was still firing, Dee hadn't hesitated, racing across the street to drag his partner, his lover, to cover behind a wall.

Now panic threatens to overwhelm him as he tries to assess Ryo's injury, but he ruthlessly forces it down. Ryo's a lot better at repressing emotions than Dee is, but right now panicking is the worst thing he can do; he needs to keep his head. Trying to stem the bleeding with one hand, Dee reaches for his radio and clicks in on.

"Officer down! I repeat, officer down! This is Detective Laytner, 27th Precinct. I need an ambulance and backup to…" He checks a nearby street sign and reels off their location. "My partner's been hit. There's a single shooter, but I can't do anything about him, I'm pinned down and I can't leave my partner."

Dispatch assures him both ambulance and assistance are en route, ETA five minutes. It's the longest five minutes of Dee's life, kneeling over Ryo, hands slippery with his lover's blood.

"Hold on, baby, just hold on. Help's on the way, stay with me." Somehow he keeps his voice steady, calm and soothing, reassuring. All the time a little voice is gibbering 'Oh God, oh God, oh God, please, no,' in the back of his mind, but he ignores it. He has to keep calm for Ryo's sake.

Ryo's drifting in and out of consciousness. At one point he opens his eyes briefly, whispers, "Love you, Dee."

"Love you too, baby. It's okay, you're gonna be fine, just hang in there."

The ambulance sirens are the sweetest music he's ever heard. He realises belatedly that the shooting's stopped and he hopes his backup got the shooter. Then the paramedics are shoving him out of the way and all he can do is step back and let them work on Ryo.

They let him travel in the ambulance, hunched up in the corner, out of the way, watching them checking his partner's vitals, listening to their medical chatter. He only understands part of what they're saying, but the heart monitor is beeping steadily and he catches the word 'stabilised'. That's good, right?

At the hospital it's controlled chaos. Dee trails after the gurney as Ryo's wheeled into the hospital, following behind until he's prevented from going any further by orderlies who tell him his partner's being prepped for surgery. He's shown to a waiting room and sits on one of the hard chairs, staring sightlessly at the door and silently praying that Ryo will be okay.

He doesn't know how long he waits. Drake and JJ arrive, then the chief. Ted picks Bikky and Carol up from school, bringing them with him. Bikky sits tense and scared beside him, his fingers digging painfully into Dee's arm, but Dee barely notices. Carol is crying. He's not sure when Mother arrives, but at some point he becomes aware that she's sitting at his other side, holding his hand and praying quietly. None of them speak to each other; they just sit or stand around and wait, looking like a bunch of statues.

Dee feels numb, like he's in limbo.

When the surgeon arrives to talk to them, Dee finds he can't speak; his voice has deserted him. It falls to the chief to ask.

"How is he?"

"The bullet got lodged in a tricky spot, but I got it out. He was lucky, a centimetre either way…" He didn't need to finish the sentence for everyone to know what he meant. "Detective Maclean lost a lot of blood, but he came through surgery well and he's been moved to recovery. He's going to be fine."

Thank God.

"When can we see him?"

"Are you family?"

"I'm his partner, and this is his son." Dee nods towards Bikky.

"I'll send someone to fetch you once he's awake."

Dee nods again and finally allows himself to relax a little; Ryo's okay. He squeezes Mother's hand and sends up a little prayer of thanks. Everything will be alright now.

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The End

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Sequel 'On The Mend'


End file.
